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JapanThe Defense Ministry sent troops to help in the northern prefecture of Akita on Wednesday. Increase in bear attacks In hilly area.
Bear have appeared in schools, railway stations, supermarkets and even near hot springs resorts in Japan attacked by animals Reported almost daily, mostly in the north.
12 people were killed and more than 100 were injured in the attacks From April, according to Environment Ministry data released in late October.
“Every day, bears invade residential areas of the region and their influence is increasing,” said Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Fumitoshi Sato.
“Responding to the bear problem is an urgent matter.”
The Defense Ministry and the Akita Prefecture government signed an agreement on sending troops on Wednesday afternoon, allowing troops to set box traps with food, transport them to local hunters and help dispose of dead bears. Troopers will not use firearms to kill bears.
Akita Governor Kenta Suzuki said local officials were becoming “desperate” due to a shortage of manpower amid daily reports of bear attacks.
The operation began in the city of Kazuno, where residents have been told for several weeks to avoid the dense forests around it, stay at home after dark and wear bells to deter bears that might approach their homes for food.
“The townspeople feel the danger every day,” Kazuno Mayor Shinji Sasamoto said after meeting 15 or more soldiers, who came into the city in a truck and several jeeps, armed with body armor and large maps. “This has affected people’s way of life, causing them to stop going out or cancel events.”
After Kazuno, a city of about 30,000 people known for its hot springs, dramatic landscapes and a variety of sweet apples, troops will head to the towns of Odate and Kitakita under the agreement that runs until the end of the month.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi Tuesday said the bear mission was intended to help secure people’s daily lives, but the Self-Defense Forces’ primary mission was national defense and they could not provide unlimited support for the bear response. The Japanese army is already short of staff.
So far, the ministry has not received any other request for military assistance on the bear issue, he said.
In Akita Prefecture, which has a population of about 880,000, bears have attacked about 50 people since May, killing at least four, according to the local government. experts It is said that 70 percent of bear attacks have occurred in residential areas.
An elderly woman who went mushroom hunting in the forest over the weekend in Yuzawa city, Yuzawa Prefecture, was found dead after being attacked by a bear. In late October, another elderly woman in Akita city encountered a bear while working in the fields and died. And on Tuesday, a man delivering newspapers in Akita city was attacked and injured by a bear.
Experts say Japan’s aging population and declining population in rural areas are among the reasons for the growing bear problem in recent years.
Abandoned neighborhoods and fields with persimmon or chestnut trees often attract bears to residential areas. And experts say once bears find food and get a taste, they keep coming back.
The local hunters are also getting older and are not used to hunting. Experts say police and other officials should be trained as “government hunters” to help kill the animals.
Japan’s government formed a taskforce last week to prepare an official bear response by mid-November.
Officials are considering bear population surveys, the use of communication devices to issue bear warnings, and amendments to hunting regulations. He also says that experts should be trained in hunting and ecology.
The ministry said the population of brown bears and Asian black bears has also increased due to the lack of preventive measures in the depopulated and aging northern regions.
Japanese black bears, which are common in most parts of the country, can weigh up to 130 kg. Brown bears on its northern island of Hokkaido can weigh up to 400 kilograms.
This is not the first time Japan has deployed troops to assist in wildlife control.
The military provided aerial surveillance for wild deer hunting about a decade ago and killed sea lions to protect fisheries in the 1960s.
Elsewhere, the British Army provided military assistance in the mass culling of animals infected with foot-and-mouth disease in 2001.